Ever since writing that last review article, I have been feeling the need to cut loose, relax, and blog about something a little more “down-to-earth,” like recent things that have been happening around here. If you are new to Perishable Press, rest assured that I try to keep these “site/personal news” update posts down to a minimum. Whenever possible, I save up a bunch of interesting off-topic things that I want to talk about, and then cram them all together into a multipurpose article like this one. I have found that consolidating and summarizing multiple news items into one post helps keep noise to a minimum while providing a more complete “snapshot” of current events. That said, let’s see what’s been happening ‘round here lately..

Toggle High Contrast Style

Due topopulardemand, I have implemented an alternate “high-contrast” CSS stylesheet for the current theme. If you find the content difficult to read due to the low-contrast, “grey-text-on-black-background,” click on the small sun icon located in the lower-right corner of the browser window to brighten things up a bit. Conversely, to restore the original (dark) appearance, click on the moon icon in the same location. This “toggle-contrast” functionality has been around for awhile, but I have not found the opportunity to mention it until now.

Search Everything Plugin

Another recently added feature to the site is the ability to “search everything” — including posts, comments, and pages. This incredibly useful functionality is made possible by Dan Cameron’s excellent Search Everything plugin, which I highly recommend. The community here provides a wealth of information in post comments that previously was not included in search results. Next time you need to find something on the site, be sure to scan the comments of returned results.

Restoration of Alternate Themes

During my last site overhaul and renovation, I removed the entire collection of alternate themes used to “skin” the site. Now that everything is once again back on track and running smooth, I am in the process of updating and restoring my entire collection of site themes available for visitors. It’s a rather tedious process, but I have made progress with a few of the most complex and highest-rated themes, Lithium, minimalist, and Optimized. So, to change the appearance of the site, click on one of those links to launch the theme in a new tab (or window). Although I am fairly confident that these three themes are complete, please let me know if anything seems “messed up.” Also, when the other themes are restored and ready for use, I will definitely post about it. Note:click here to reset the site to it’s default “Perishable” theme.

New Widescreen Monitor

Meanwhile, in the meatspace realms, I recently purchased a new widescreen monitor. Since last Christmas, I have been enjoying working on the Web with a much larger window. This is a major hardware upgrade for me, and I have to say that it was worth every penny of the $249 sale price. The monitor is an HP W2207 22″ Widescreen Flat Panel LCD Monitor, equipped with the following:

22 in Widescreen Thin Film Transistor LCD Active Matrix TV

1000:1 Contrast Ratio and Resolution at 1680 x 1050

High Bandwidth Digital Content Protection

Standard 15 Pin D Sub Analog and Advanced DVI D Digital Interfaces

19.8 Lbs (WxLxH) 20.61″ x 11.38″ x 18.95″

Sure, I am spoiled now, I admit, but the view is much easier on my eyes as I sit for endless hours staring into cyberspace. Incidentally, if this information generates any interest, I will gladly post a full review later on.

Launch of mindfeed.org Site

Also new this year is my newly launched mindfeed.org site. It launched quietly in January and already contains a decent number of interesting (to me at least) articles and information. Although I haven’t managed to update it in awhile, I am very excited about it and intend to use it for some of my more “philosophical”-type ideas. Rather than dilute the current focus of Perishable Press, mindfeed.org will hopefully enable me to explore the “heavier” side of my intellectual contemplations. Living in a small(er) town, I find it nearly impossible to find people who are willing to open up and dive into topics involving:

Critical Thinking & Hypercritical Thought

Absolute Truth, Relative Thinking

Focus, Awareness & Perception

Doublespeak & Hidden Meaning

The Fine Art of Blogging

Open-Mindedness

Interviewed at ImJustCreative.com

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere, I recently enjoyed the pleasure of being interviewed by ImJustCreative.com’s Graham Smith. Graham is an incredibly inspiring, friendly, and (of course) creative individual covering everything from blogging, marketing and advertising to Macs, WordPress, graphic design and many other Web-related subjects. In the interview, I talk rather casually about my involvement with the Internet, blogging, design, and just about everything else. Although this is my first “official” online interview, I like to think that it went remarkably well and look forward to embarrassing myself in front of the whole world (or at least a part of it). Look for the interview on Graham’s site, or after hearing about it here hopefully soon!

Possibly Published Material

As if all that weren’t enough, content from one of my more popular articles, Stupid htaccess Tricks, is to be featured in an upcoming book on Joomla Security. Although I can’t say too much at this point, the book is currently in production and should be released soon. This is a very exciting step for me, and I look forward to reading and reviewing the book in a future article.

Google PageRank Increase

Last but certainly not least, I am thrilled to report that Google has increased my PageRank from a 4 to a 5 for the Perishable Press home page. Other pages have also gone up considerably, including a nice jump from low PR to a 6 for articles such as the one featuring a nice collection of Easily Adaptable WordPress Loop Templates. While the whole PR ratings thing may be meaningless to some, I certainly appreciate the extra “love” juice. — Thanks Google!

..and that about hits all of the highlights. So far this year is going great (Praise the Lord!). The content is flowing and networking is going well. As I look forward to Spring, I am excited for several new projects that will hopefully see the light of day. And, as always, I look forward to sharing more high-quality content on everything from web design and development to graphic design and digital photography. As always, a huge thank you to everyone who has contributed, criticized, and subscribed to my efforts — I could not (and would not) do it without you! — There is so much to come! Stay dialed!

Comments

First, I wonder if the Search Anything Plugin do enhance the search relevance (the website is down at the moment, so I can’t digg it out myself). WordPress default search engine is pretty bad, so on my blog, I replace it with Advanced Search, which

This plugin provides a powerful and versatile site search for your WordPress installation. It uses MySQL’s advanced search functionalities. It also features search term highlighting.

Also, a little criticism on the way the search works on this blog : when I search a something, I may not find the good keyword immediatly, so it would be nice if I could modify my previous search within the search results page.

And of course, cheers for the PR jump, you really deserve to be rewarded for your remarquable work.

@Louis: Thanks for the tip on the Advanced Search plugin. I am currently using it on another site, and yes, it does an incredible job. As time progresses, I will see what I can do to further enhance the search functionality for this site. I appreciate your input! As for the lack of metric support here in the U.S. — I only live here, pal, I don’t make the rules! ;)

@Graham: Enough with your clever witticisms! Get to work on the interview OR ELSE!! Just trying on the suit there for a moment — not sure if it fits, really. ;) Seriously though, I do look forward to seeing what you can do with that rambling vapor cloud of responses that I floated your way for the interview. So I’ll make you a deal — I will release the coveted Perishable theme after you finish posting the interview! Deal?

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Perishable Press is the work of Jeff Starr, professional developer, designer, author, and publisher with over 10 years of experience. Check out some of Jeff's books and projects, follow on Twitter, or learn more »

Fun fact: Perishable Press has been online since 2005, and now features over 700 articles and more than 11,000 comments. More stats »